In the first video, the panellist
described oral language skills as the “foundation of the reading process”. Because an important aspect of reading is
reliably making the sounds associated with words, the oral expression of words
becomes the “building blocks” of reading.
By leveraging these “sound systems” the child can begin to de-code words
by making the sounds within the word so that they can be understood by self and
others. The greater the ability to understand
and orally communicate words, the easier it is to teach the child and support
reading development.
The panellist in the first video
and Cain both agree that pre-existing oral vocabulary is an important factor in
the development of reading. Cain labels
this existing vocabulary as a “lexicon” or “storehouse of words that are
familiar” (Reading development and difficulties, 12). When a child brings a rich vocabulary to the
task of reading, the next steps become less challenging for the child and
teacher. Beck also highlights the
importance of existing vocabulary and notes that there is a “huge discrepancy”
in the vocabulary of high, versus low, achieving readers (Text Talk: capturing the benefits of read-aloud
experiences for young children, 3). It
would seem that existing oral vocabulary would be an accurate predictor, not necessarily
of eventual reading success, but of the level of challenge ahead for the
teacher and the child who are engaged in the process of learning to read. By
understanding the challenges, the teacher can become better prepared to support
the process of reading development.
In the article “Text talk: capturing the benefits of read-aloud
experiences for young children” the method Beck uses is “talk surrounding text”,
which is an oral exchange between the student and the teacher. This conversation involves the teacher asking
open-ended questions about the text, avoiding common pitfalls, like children
reflecting on pictures or their own experience(3). In order to engage with the teacher in this
“text-talk” method of reading development, children must be able to draw upon
their oral language skills to appropriately express thoughts, ideas and
reflections. This is how the teacher
will know if the child is on track, or if further development is needed. Beck discussed the importance of this “text
talk” oral exchange in the assessment of reading development, as it gives
important “cues from a student’s initial response” (7). By listening to the child, the teacher can then
ask follow up questions to get a full assessment of the child’s
development. When the child expresses
more of a response based the pictures within the text or on his/her own lived
experience, the teacher can assess this oral response and refocus the child back
on to the text. Oral language is the
exchange upon which the assessment is based, so the teacher must be aware of its
role in the process of reading development.
References:
Cain, K. (2010). Introduction to the
study of reading. In K. Cain, Reading Development & Difficulties (Ch. 1,
pp. 2-13). Toronto: Wiley.
Beck, I. L., & McKeown, M. G.
(2001). Text talk: Capturing the benefits of read-aloud experiences for young
children. The Reading Teacher, 55, 10-20.
Component Skills- Module 1, Part 1
Videos.
842 Module 1 Part 2
In my work with workplace-bound,
low-literacy adults, I regularly see what happens when students don’t acquire
phonological awareness and decoding skills when they are young readers. What results is a lack of reading skill and a
lack of strategy to improve. They become
stuck. In my experience, a pattern of frustration
often follows, as the low literacy adult takes on a world driven by adults who
have reached the growth phase.
The Balance Literacy Diet website
posed the question: “Did you know that 85% of youth in trouble with the
law have reading difficulties?”( https://www.oise.utoronto.ca/balancedliteracydiet/Home/index.html). This was no surprise to me because I
regularly see this correlation in my adult clients’ lives. This same website
explains the de-railing pattern: “Evidence shows that students who do not learn to read on
level by 3rd grade are much more likely to develop low self-esteem, drop out of
school, and engage in antisocial and aggressive behaviour” (https://www.oise.utoronto.ca/balancedliteracydiet/Home/index.html). Again, this is not shocking news. While other students, by this time, have the
foundational skills of phonological awareness and are progressing from
beginning literacy to a level of fluency where self-esteem can flourish, those
who lack these important building blocks are left feeling left out and left
behind. “Learning
how to read in English is like cracking a secret code. Students must learn
which letters or letter combinations stand for the 40 or so sounds of spoken
English. Once they understand the code, students are able to use their
knowledge to read and spell new words. Teaching the connection between letters
and the sounds they represent is an important part of early literacy
instruction” (https://www.oise.utoronto.ca/balancedliteracydiet/Letter-Sounds_Phonics.html).
Beyond the issue of poor self
esteem, I have found that, in adulthood, the assumption is often made that they
go back and learn what was missed. Rather
than diagnosing the problem as it really is- the lack of a reading building
block from an early-literacy stage, the adult low-literacy person tends to
generalize this lack of skill into a statement about general intellect. One of the Literacy Balanced Diet
contributing websites (Reading Rockets) pivoted on the idea of intelligence and
phonologic skill, saying “On the
other hand, phonological skill is not strongly related to intelligence. Some
very intelligent people have limitations of linguistic awareness, especially at
the phonological level. Take heart. If you find phonological tasks challenging,
you are competent in many other ways!
(http://www.readingrockets.org/article/why-phonological-awareness-important-reading-and-spelling). This is a good and necessary message to the
adult audience who tend to describe their low literacy as a fixed state, as
proven by multiple clients mirroring the same, fatalistic phrase to me, “You
can’t fix stupid”.
In the
bigger picture, what happens to those without phonological, orthological and
general literacy skill in adulthood is, on mass, an epidemic of unemployment. When low skill jobs can be secured, the low
literacy adult is at greater risk of misunderstanding and workplace accidents,
as many of the instructions are provided in written form, assuming all workers
have the reading skills to follow such aids.
This leads to learned helplessness and dependence on social assistance. Beyond the monetary cost to society, the
worse outcome is the terrible waste of human potential.
References:
The Balanced Literacy
Diet. [Website]. Retrieved from: https://www.oise.utoronto.ca/balancedliteracydiet/Home/index.html
Reading Rockets. [Website]. Retrieved from: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/why-phonological-awareness-important-reading-and-spelling
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